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Youngstown Foundation funds new tech hub at Oak Hill
By Bruce Walton
YOUNGSTOWN
A small but well-furnished room in the basement of the Oak Hill Collaborative, 507 Oak Hill Ave., hosts MakerSpace meetings every Wednesday evening, giving 3-D printers and computer space for people in the Youngstown area to create and innovate.
From hobbyists to aspiring inventors, anyone can use the space to work on their side projects and collaborate ideas.
The space just got a new addition three weeks ago thanks to the Youngstown Foundation, which recently awarded the Oak Hill Collaborative a $10,000 grant to build the tech hub in the MakerSpace for computing, designing and creating products with the seven 3-D printers.
In August, the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation also funded the purchase of four additional 3-D printers from AST2, a local Youngstown start-up.
Bob Davenport is the CEO of Add-a-Trap LLC, a company he runs in Struthers based around an invention he started selling in 2001.
The Add-A-Trap is a plumbing fixture that can be installed in the drain pipe of a sink that can catch debris in the plumbing system. He said he has sold thousands of his devices.
Since 2015, Davenport has come to Oak Hill to develop prototypes of new versions for the Add-A-Trap, spending at least an evening a week and getting advice from fellow partners in the room.
“It’s a tremendous place to work and develop,” Davenport said. “The place has been great to me because I couldn’t have developed the Add-A-Trap 3 and the Add-A-Trap 4. Without [the MakerSpace], I wouldn’t be making my next move in the marketplace.”
The room was built to provide a closed-off area in the building’s basement to allow for a safe space with no distractions. In the end, it took a little more than two weeks to finish the hub and was made without compromising the rest of the space.
Patrick Kerrigan, executive director of the Oak Hill Collaborative, said he was grateful to receive the grant to fund the construction and the final design with the help of Jules Marcu, volunteer director of the 3-D printing at the MakerSpace.
The collaborative’s mission is “to promote economic development and community revitalization through small-business development, neighborhood improvement and beautification, and an innovative MakerSpace, which serves the Oak Hill corridor, the South Side, and the city of Youngstown as a whole.”
Kerrigan said the new hub has done well to follow that mission. Before the hub space, most people spent time around the basement, and the 3-D printers were in one room with tools.
After the hub’s construction, people can have enough room to have computers and work in the space. The old room now serves as a space for the new Oak Hill Robotics MakerSpace group, Kerrigan said.